35 OceanofPDF.com A REYNA sharp pain in my face drew me harshly from the solace of sleep. I touched my tender cheek as reality assaulted me in flashes—the terrifying car ride with my father; his demonic glare just before his fist cracked against my cheek; the feral hiss of his last words to me. Get out of my sight before I slit your f*****g throat. Despite years of witnessing my father’s heartlessness, I was stunned. I’d never heard the promise of such animalistic violence in his words before. He’d been genuinely close to killing me. The truth of my situation brought on a suffocating despair. I couldn’t continue to live like this. For the first time ever, the darkest of impulses whispered at the back of my mind. An option for escape that I’d never been low enough to truly consider, but now
